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Point return orbit design and characteristics analysis for manned lunar mission

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Abstract

Point return orbit (PRO) of manned lunar mission is constrained by both lunar parking orbit and reentry corridor associated with reentry position. Besides, the fuel consumption and flight time should be economy. The patched conic equations which are adaptive to PRO are derived first, the PRO is modeled with fuel and time constraints based on the design variables of orbit parameters with clear physical meaning. After that, by combining analytical method with numerical method, a serial orbit design strategy from initial value design to precision solution is proposed. Simulation example indicates that the method has excellent convergence performance and precision. According to a great deal of simulation results by the method, the PRO characteristics such as Moon centered orbit parameters, Earth centered orbit parameters, transfer velocity change, etc. are analyzed, which can supply references to the manned lunar mission orbit scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Aerospace and Materials Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, 410073, China

    HongXin Shen, JianPing Zhou, QiBo Peng & HaiYang Li

  2. Science and Technology on Aerospace Flight Dynamics Laboratory, Beijing, 100094, China

    HongXin Shen

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  1. HongXin Shen
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  2. JianPing Zhou
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  3. QiBo Peng
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  4. HaiYang Li
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Correspondence to HaiYang Li.

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Shen, H., Zhou, J., Peng, Q. et al. Point return orbit design and characteristics analysis for manned lunar mission. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 55, 2561–2569 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-4969-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-4969-4

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